Any tips for avoiding burnout? I'm 3 months into working full-time plus doing this on the side, landed a couple of Upwork clients, but I'm finding myself avoiding Upwork and feeling burnt out. How often did you have days where you did nothing, and how did you stay on the grind for years?

#202 · 60min open Q&A on how I make $400k/mo

Any tips for avoiding burnout? I'm 3 months into working full-time plus doing this on the side, landed a couple of Upwork clients, but I'm finding myself avoiding Upwork and feeling burnt out. How often did you have days where you did nothing, and how did you stay on the grind for years?

When I was starting out, yes, I had days where I did nothing. But I came across a Reddit concept years ago called 'no zero days' — the idea is that no matter how bad a day is, you never do absolutely nothing. Even on a terrible day, do one small thing, like sending one Upwork application. The point is to not break the streak and keep some momentum going, so you're still technically in the game even on an underperforming day. It's been many years since I've had a true zero day now — I'll always do something: inbox zero, respond to my community, record a video, take a sales call, whatever. My recommendation: don't treat your work life like an on/off switch, where 'on' means fully on and 'off' means burned out. Treat it like a dimmer switch instead — there are degrees of work and degrees of rest, not just two states.

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How do you deal with physical or mental burnout and taking breaks when you get engrossed in work and feel you have no time to rest?

I think the problem you describe is common. The key for me is not seeing work and breaks as opposites. The most important thing is momentum—making sure I always put in some small daily effort toward an actionable goal, regardless of what I’m doing. Starting small and gradually increasing effort works like progressive overload at the gym: your ability and resiliency grow over time. Most people view work as always on or always off, but I fluctuate—some days I work many hours, other days just a few, while avoiding extreme swings from top to bottom. I always do some amount of work toward my goals because momentum matters; when you get a ball rolling, lead generation, outreach, or content production will eventually yield results if you don’t stop. I avoid all‑or‑nothing thinking—I might work at 40% one day, 100% another, then drop to 30%, 80%, 60%, etc.—and that’s my typical workday. This approach helps reframe work so it doesn’t have to be all on or all off. Books like Atomic Habits and The Compound Effect reinforce this: start with a tiny habit (e.g., run for one minute) and build up gradually; by the end of a month you’ll have a solid habit. This method is far more effective and economically sensible than the all‑or‑nothing approach.

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How do you handle burnout, especially when you’re working long hours and feeling exhausted?

I was feeling really tired that day, barely sleeping and having to wake up at 4 am, so I thought about burnout. I believe burnout is mostly a story we tell ourselves. Humans are great storytellers, and we internalize the narrative that burnout is a real, inevitable condition. Historically people worked in dangerous jobs—coal mines, for example—and kept going despite extreme hardship. The idea that we’re somehow uniquely vulnerable is a myth. If you keep telling yourself that burnout is a looming catastrophe, you’ll feel it more. I try to remind myself that nothing I do matters on a cosmic scale, which helps put the pressure in perspective. I also avoid short‑form content that trains the brain for instant gratification; instead, I focus on longer, deeper work that builds patience and real growth. By rejecting the burnout narrative and reshaping the stories we tell ourselves, I stay more resilient.

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How can I stop feeling guilty about not doing revenue‑generating work on weekends and avoid burnout?

No, I don’t have a specific routine to shut off work on weekends. I’ve struggled with this too, and I think the idea of strict work‑mode vs. relax‑mode is a false dichotomy. In reality, effort exists on a gradient—some days I’m at 20% effort, other days at 80%. On low‑effort days I still do a little work that moves the business forward, like client fulfillment, community management, or content creation, then I rest the rest of the day. I often unwind early in the morning (around 5–6 a.m.) so the rest of the day is free for whatever I want. Other days I work most of the time and still carve out some unwind or play time, like playing League of Legends. I don’t follow a strict on/off schedule; I accept shades of gray. Financially, metrics are useful for business but shouldn’t be the only measure of life success. I’ve gotten ahead financially by sacrificing other areas—relationships, fun, experiences—but I’ve recently started prioritizing family and personal time. Others may be ahead of me in emotional intelligence or life experiences, reminding me that business performance isn’t life performance.

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How do you push through burnout and mental health days to keep showing up daily with your updates?

I think a lot of the struggle comes from the story you tell yourself about the work. If you frame it as a massive challenge you create a mental monster that makes it harder to show up. Instead, zoom out and remind yourself that you’re living in a relatively blessed time – you can turn on a button and talk for an hour, which is a privilege compared to many jobs. Treat daily tasks as simple by‑products of life rather than monumental obstacles. By changing the narrative to something straightforward, you reduce the mental resistance and burnout tends to disappear. I’m not a motivational guru, just sharing the story I tell myself, which seems to work for me.

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